UK Phases In 2026-27 Employment Reforms, Cutting Unfair Dismissal Qualification to 6 Months
Updated
Updated · Manchester Evening News · Aug 1
UK Phases In 2026-27 Employment Reforms, Cutting Unfair Dismissal Qualification to 6 Months
3 articles · Updated · Manchester Evening News · Aug 1
Summary
October brings the next major tranche of the Employment Rights Act, including legally enforceable protections for outsourced public-service workers, stricter tipping rules and a tougher duty on employers to prevent sexual harassment.
From 1 October, employers handling tips regularly must consult staff on written tipping policies, review them at least every three years, and could face tribunal awards of up to £5,000 per affected worker.
Trade union changes also deepen this year: more repeals of the 2016 law arrive in August and October, removing strike ballot thresholds and cutting industrial-action notice to 10 days from 14.
January 2027 shifts the focus to dismissal rights, reducing the ordinary unfair-dismissal qualifying period from two years to six months and removing the cap on compensatory awards.
Later phases extend the overhaul further, with mandatory equality action plans for firms with 250-plus staff, social-care bargaining reforms for a 1.5 million-worker sector, and zero-hours protections rolling out through 2027-28.
With unfair dismissal caps removed and protection starting earlier, will UK employers drastically cut new hiring to avoid severe tribunal risks?
As the Fair Work Agency wields unprecedented enforcement powers, will this sweeping regulatory overhaul boost workforce productivity or crush small businesses?
Could the strict new mandate to prevent third-party harassment force businesses to radically change how they interact with customers?